Pen Y Pass - Crib Goch - Snowdon - Down the Watkins Path

I had my last operation to remove my Stent on Friday the 12th August, I rested on Saturday by visiting a friend in Leicester, we went for a walk along the Golden Mile then we went for a meal and did some shopping, we finished off with a trip round the temple.

It was great to be out and about and pain free!  I was feeling so good that on Sunday I decided to climb Crib Goch to see where my fitness was because Marc and I had talked about climbing Ben Nevis the following weekend.

Anyhow it went really well I did Pen Y Pass - Crib Goch - Snowdon - Down the Watkins Path.  I was very tired afterwards but it felt great to be on the mountains and I had a good gauge of what my residual fitness was like after my inactivity due to the Gall Bladder removal and the kidney stones debacle.

Here are some pics! 

the stile on the way up from pen y pass

The initial walk up the path from the car park left me soaking
with sweat from the exhuastion as I had only come out
of hospital on friday after 4 months on and off with kidney stones and
an operation that went wrong.   The lack of activity had
taken it's toll.

looking back on the scrabble up to crib goch

red faced from the effort at this point I was starting to feel a little
better!

Crib Goch

If this little flower can survive up here, I am
sure I can walk for a day

The views the views the views!!

This little fella does this every day!

Along the ridge of crib goch

About half way across

A cairn marking the way for me

thats crib goch done now onto Snowdon

A sign for the summit

touch the summit of Snowdon

Make my way down the watkins path

A beautiful day and nice to see the stark contrast of the tree's berries
and lilac heather against the rocky backdrop

Across the bridge

I finished up at the car park at the foot of the Watkins Path and then it was a 6 mile walk back to Pen Y Pass.   I finished the day exhausted, very footstore but in great spirits.

I was fit enough to do Ben Nevis next weekend so I had 5 days to recover :-)

Handiware Picnic Stove

I am starting to get a little collection of stoves, recently I bought a Handiware Picnic Stove from ebay.  It's a meth burner essentially but one from the 50's/60's I believe, if you know any more history drop me a line!  

It arrived coated in rust so I will have to do some cleaning when I get the chance and it also had an additional part that just didn't seem to be part of the stove, I suspected it was from a completely different stove as the part was heavy and more like a burner for something else.  Well the guys at the classic stove forum agreed and the part was dispensed with. 

I set it up with a camping kettle and proceded to enjoy a coffee in the garden whilst doing a bit of stargazing before bed!

Here's some pictures!

The Handiware Picnic Stove
Rusted up version!

A brass Mushroom
John at Classic Stoves thinks it's a butane burner!

Very easy to light and puts out a good flame!

A nice flame pattern

It boiled my camping kettle in no time, I was actually very impressed I will definitely take it out on a day trip will bring a nice touch of nostalgia!